Reichert, Irving F. (Irving Frederick), 1895-1968

In 1921, Irving Reichert was ordained a rabbi; he adhered to Reform Judaism. He was the rabbi of San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El from 1930 to 1947; before that, he had held previous rabbinates in New York. Reichert was an outspoken defender of social justice and the liberal tradition, and he was deeply committed to improvement of interfaith relations. He served as the President of the Northern California Board of Rabbis from 1934 to 1936; an officer of the American Civil Liberties Union and the California Council of Social Work; and on numerous professional and civic organizations. He visited Nazi Germany in 1933 and in 1937. During this time, he urged members of San Francisco's Jewish community to help rescue those Jews who fled Hitler's Third Reich and to boycott German goods. In addition, he founded the Campaign for Relief of Victims of Nazi Oppression. He also founded the Survey Committee, a forerunner of San Francisco's Jewish Community Relations Council. He also served as a panel chair on the National War Labor Board. In 1943, his election to the national vice-presidency of the American Council for Judaism (the A.C.J.), an anti-Zionist organization, caused dissension among members of Congregation Emanu-El. In 1948, after he left Congregation Emanu-El, he became the executive director of the A.C.J.'s western region. In 1956, he resigned from that organization.